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Prenatal Exposure to Oxidative Potential and Lung Function in Infants and Preschool- Age Children: A Prospective
Anouk Marsal1,2, Rémy Slama3, Sarah Lyon-Caen3
1Université Grenoble Alpes, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), INRAE, IRD, INP-G, IGE (UMR 5001), Grenoble, France.
Insights
Prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) and its oxidative potential (OP) impacted infant lung volumes. These findings highlight the importance of air quality during pregnancy for child respiratory health.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Pediatric Respiratory Medicine
- Toxicology
Background:
- Fine particulate matter (PM) exposure during pregnancy is a concern for child respiratory health.
- Limited research exists on the impact of PM oxidative potential (OP) on early life lung function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess associations between prenatal exposure to PM mass and OP and offspring lung function in infants and preschool children.
- To compare the strength of associations between PM mass and OP exposure metrics.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 356 mother-child pairs in the SEPAGES cohort.
- Measured prenatal PM exposure using dithiothreitol (DTT) and ascorbic acid (AA) assays.
- Assessed infant lung function via tidal breathing (TBFVL) and nitrogen multiple-breath washout (N2-MBW) at 6 weeks, and airwave oscillometry (AOS) at 3 years.
Main Results:
- Increased prenatal PM exposure was linked to decreased functional residual capacity (FRC) in neonates.
- Prenatal OP showed similar patterns to PM mass but with smaller effect sizes.
- At 3 years, higher PM exposure tended to be associated with increased frequency-dependent resistance.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with altered offspring lung function, particularly lung volumes.
- Oxidative potential of PM may also play a role, though its impact appears less pronounced than PM mass alone.
Background:
Fine particulate matter () has been found to be detrimental to respiratory health of children, but few studies have examined the effects of prenatal oxidative potential (OP) on lung function in infants and preschool children.
Objectives:
We estimated the associations of personal exposure to and OP during pregnancy on offspring objective lung function parameters and compared the strengths of associations between both exposure metrics.
Methods:
We used data from 356 mother-child pairs from the SEPAGES cohort. PM filters collected twice during a week were analyzed for OP, using the dithiothreitol (DTT) and the ascorbic acid (AA) assays, quantifying the exposure of each pregnant woman. Lung function was assessed with tidal breathing analysis (TBFVL) and nitrogen multiple-breath washout () test, performed at 6 wk, and airwave oscillometry (AOS) performed at 3 y. Associations of prenatal mass and OP with lung function parameters were estimated using multiple linear regressions.
Results:
In neonates, an interquartile (IQR) increase in () was associated with a decrease in functional residual capacity (FRC) measured by [; 95% confidence interval (CI): , 0.15]. Associations with showed similar patterns in comparison with but of smaller magnitude. Lung clearance index (LCI) and TBFVL parameters did not show any clear association with the exposures considered. At 3 y, increased frequency-dependent resistance of the lungs () from AOS tended to be associated with higher (; 95% CI: , 0.24) and (; ; 95% CI: , 0.27) but not with (; ; 95% CI: , 0.16). Results for FRC and remained similar in OP models adjusted on .
Discussion:
Prenatal exposure to was associated with several offspring lung function parameters over time, all related to lung volumes. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11155.
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